By Derek McNaughton, driving.ca

Originally published: February 7, 2012

SMALL

MEDIUM

LARGE

Finally, I did it. Our poor fuel economy in the Toyota Tacoma V6 TRD Double Cab, which we have on loan for a long-term test, had me rarely registering much more than 400 kilometres to an 80-litre tank every week. It was getting a little frustrating.

But on a long and snowy drive into the Quebec Laurentians this week, giving the Tacoma a good chance to improve itself over the extended, highway haul, the Tacoma broke the 500 kilometre boundary to register 527 kilometres before I deemed it too risky to continue on E.

The fill up took 72 litres, so there was clearly some fuel still left in the tank; but assuming I used 72 litres over 527 kilometres, that’s a highway consumption of 13.6 L/100km, or the imperial equivalent of almost 21 mpg. That’s still not stellar, but not despicable either considering the Tacoma is shaped not much different than a woodshed (though I happen to like woodsheds) and it is the middle of winter. I also wasn’t trying to be ultra efficient either and there was some idling in between.

At least this shows us that no one should be under any illusion that buying a midsize truck such as the Tacoma will save him or her money on fuel (unless he or she, of course, buys a 4-cylinder Tacoma). Buying a midsize truck is more about not owning a full-size truck, which can be hard to park, hard to negotiate in traffic, hard to live with every day, especially when sometimes you need to simply hop out for milk.

The Tacoma, however, shows no such lethargy, yet it’s still a truck that rides like a truck and looks like a truck with many of the same capabilities as its bigger brethren. It can still haul wood, pumps, dirt bikes and haul my boat or trailer, and it seems eminently pleasant to live with, especially with satellite radio. My wife has used the truck a few times to go cross-country skiing in the Gatineaus and comes back with the same comment every time: “I like that truck.” Maybe there is a little bit of country in her.

The passion for the Tacoma seems to be shared equally among owners across North America, most who gather around the online watering hole of tacomaworld.com. Want to know anything about any year Tacoma? Here’s your source. The site has more than 45,000 members, any one of whom seems ready and eager to share their experience, knowledge or modifications to their Tacoma.

Over the course of the past few weeks, I’ve come to see why the Tacoma has cultivated such a following. As a daily driver, the Tacoma is a tight, quiet and rattle free companion that isn’t laborious in the city. As an off-road vehicle, it continues to be part snowmobile. As a truck, it gets most jobs done, able to tow up to 6,300 lbs. with our automatic and TRD package, and maxing out with 1,200 lbs. of payload. And it’s not a ubiquitous F-150.

Next week, we’ll put that payload to the test when we go and collect a full load of cedar lumber we have on order from a nearby sawmill.